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tonight on "20/20" -- true confessions. >> she confessed this? >> they know all, they see all. and now, they tell all. robbers, giving up the goods instead of stealing them. >> here, jewelry. >> a convicted crook confessing what makes a house irresistible to rob. >> this is a good house to burglarize? >> no, this is a perfect house. >> how to not get house broken. hairdressers dishing their dirty little secrets. literally. and what about some of those hair brushes. >> if it gets cleaned at the end of the week, it will be great. >> and the ultimate dirty secret. how the handbag you carry into the shop could determine the price you pay. shear madness. plus, doctors.

the hidden reason they keep you waiting so long in the e.r. pilots. this week, a disaster caught on tape. and a collision on the runway. what's really happening in the cockpit? even window cleaners. they're not just washing, they're watching. from prostitutes to out of control nannies to you, sleeping on the job. true confessions. >> i am going to tell. >> here now, elizabeth vargas and david muir. >> tonight, we're spilling the beans, rather, they are. all of the professions we come in contact with on a daily basis what they really think about you. and in case, how they target you by robbing your house. >> there's a home break-in every 15 sected. what you're about to find out could keep you from becoming one of those statistics. so, in a profession not exactly

known for telling the truth, deborah roberts got a reformed felon to make some true confessions about burglary 101. >> reporter: burglars have their own slang. a weekend job? a vacationer. and open window heist, easy money. but whatever they call it, skilled thieves like chris patterson rob someone, somewhere every 15 seconds. >> easy enough. >> reporter: but today, patterson isn't taking valuables. >> first thing i'm going to do is make sure i got a way to get out of here and make sure nobody is home. >> reporter: he's giving you a valuable lesson. >> people make it so easy for burglars to victimize them. >> reporter: convicted four times and now on parole, patterson's trying to clean up his life. so, he agreed to strap on a camera, break into this house and give up all his secrets. >> all kinds of good electronics down here. wow. >> reporter: so, let's be clear. you're not burglarizing houses anymore. >> no, absolutely not. >> reporter: you're not a danger to me or anybody else out there?

>> no, no, absolutely not. the only reason i'm talking about this is because i don't want it to happen to people. it would be great if other people didn't have to go through what my victims went through. >> reporter: if those victims only knew. >> sometimes i would drive for two, three hours. >> reporter: there were things they could have done to keep the berg lars at bay. >> it had to be perfect if i was going to risk my freedom. >> reporter: turns out a home robber is as choosey as a home buyer. anything here look enticing? to patterson, some houses just scream, "rob me." and other, not so much. so, his first tip, a security system is worth it. especially if it has cameras. in fact, some can even beam live video of a break-in as it's happening. >> two people in the house. oh, here comes another one. >> reporter: so, a homeowner can call the cops. >> ma'am, it's okay. officers are surrounding your house, they're not going to get away with anything. republican but get this. patterson says he still robbed plenty of homes protected by alarm systems. how?

because owners are often too lazy to turn them on. >> half the time, it's not even armed if there is one there. >> reporter: not even armed? really? on the flip side, here's something that's always on. >> beware of dog signs? not going near it. >> reporter: all you need is the sign. you can skip the actual dog. >> automatic no-no. >> reporter: so, if that's what turns him away, what attracts him to your home? >> this one is completely obstructed. no way for anybody to see what's in the front. >> reporter: good thing? >> great thing. >> reporter: privacy makes his job oh, so much easier. >> the same privacy that you think, oh, i love the privacy of having my backyard and not having people look in, i walk through the gate to your backyard, i go, oh, i love the fact that you have these beautiful shrubs up, i can do my job without anybody seeing me. >> reporter: you may already know burglars look for a full mailbox to make sure no one's home. but you you might not have considered patterson's tip

number two. don't blap on your facebook page that you are leaving for vacation. >> huge mistake. >> reporter: burglars are actually checking out social media? >> one of the hottest trends out there. you just have to set a time to pick it up. >> reporter: as for getting into your home, you may be helping a burglar without even knowing it. >> reporter: see that small window air conditioning unit? what people don't realize, it doesn't matter if you screw them in, they can be pushed in with no effort whatsoever. >> reporter: another no-no, leaving home repair equipment, especially ladders, in your yard. you might as well roll out a welcome mat. >> this is a perfect house to burglarize. >> reporter: put it all together, and finally, this former theech has found his dream home. >> when burglars look to rob a home, this is what they're looking for. lots of fences, lots -- >> reporter: glad he likes it, because it belongs to a "20/20" staffer who agreed to let us break in. with cameras romming, we turn patterson loose. he walks confidently right up to the front door, in broad

daylight. >> people don't always know their neighbors. they don't know their guests. they don't know if you're supposed to be there or not. make sure that no one's home. >> reporter: once she's suhe's house is empty, he heads to the backyard. >> perfect. screen was laying on the ground and you can see the window was unlocked. >> reporter: so that was an invitation. >> yes, you might as well have said, here, have anything you want. >> reporter: in no time, he's taking that open invitation. >> now, i'm going to make sure all the doors are unlocked in case i need to get out of here quickly. >> reporter: we put him on the clock. are you feeling a time pressure? are you trying to get in and get out as quickly as possible? >> i wanted to get in and out as fast as possible but i wanted to do a good job. >> reporter: and this homeowner, like so many of us, he says, makes it a snap. >> it doesn't matter race, nati nationality, income bracket, age, almost every single person puts things in the exact same place as the next one.

>> reporter: up to the master bedroom. first place i like to check. common knowledge to all burglars, master bedroom first. that's where the jewelry's at. exactly what a burglar's looking for. when i opened her top drawer, she stilled it from front to back with jewelry boxes and backs of jewelry. >> much like i suspected, she's got all of her jewelry in the same place, altogether. they group it together. but if it's easy for you, it's easy for me. >> reporter: so, if you cherish your rings and bling, listen to tip three. stash those baubles in a plain shoe box and hide it in an unlikely spot, like the kid's room. you're not going to go in the kid's room? >> probably not. it's the box that givens it away. and it being easily accessible. >> reporter: it's been five minutes already. >> i have to keep moving. >> reporter: next, he searches for prescription drugs. these days, they're worth their weight in gold. cash and joins anywhecoins anyw.

>> always have to check the drawers. >> reporter: and the mother load? video games in the living room and computers and small electronics in the den. what kind of electronics? iphones, ipods, digital cameras. what i want is something i can move right away, because i don't want to hold onto any stolen merchandise. i want to make sure i get the laptop. i know i can move quickly. >> reporter: which leads to tip four. don't leave the cords and chargers attached to your electronics. store them separately. patterson says it's sure to frustrate a thief. >> a lot of times, people don't realize how valuable those things are. without the cords, you can't sell it. >> reporter: 13 minutes since he broke in, patterson walks away with a big haul. worth at least a few thousands dollars, he says. >> make sure i close the door on the way out. >> reporter: his preferred getaway? believe it or not, walking out the front door. >> i'm out of here. >> reporter: nobody in the neighborhood is noticing you walking out? >> no. usually people don't even

notice. i waved at neighbors driving away. >> reporter: you are breaking into their neighbor's home? >> absolutely. >> reporter: might as well had a bow on it. >> i would have had something to unwrap when ingot home. >> here's maybe the most important tip for you, because it involves your personal safety. could anything be more frightening than walking into your house and realizing you've been robbed? well, yes. waking up in the middle of the night and realizing the burglar is still there. what's the best strategy? take a look. a dark night on the california coast. jessica coakley was visiting from out of town, staying with friends. >> very normal evening. all said our good nights. >> reporter: she falls asleep on the coach. her purse and suitcase on the living room floor beside her. she had no idea she was about to experience the scare of her life. >> i woke up and there was a person standing over me. >> reporter: she couldn't see much, but she realized the man was an intruder, wearing a ski

mask, holding a baseball bat. >> for most people, the initial reaction would be to scream. but my initial reaction was survival. >> reporter: her survival technique? laying back down and faking she was going back to sleep. >> my heart was racing the whole time, i remember actually thinking, i don't look like i am falling back asleep because i must be breathing so heavily. but -- he must have believed me. >> reporter: the burglar grabbed her purse, but left her alone and eventually ran out the door. jessica, who works for disney's corporate global security, wrote about it on the company website. >> the reason i was able to have that kind of reaction because i think about things ahead of time. >> reporter: our reformed thief, chris patterson, says he was smart. burglars are as scared of a confrontation as you are. what if you get to the house, you discover somebody is in the house? >> for me, i would leave immediately, because i don't want them to see my face, i don't want to be identified. if i was the homeowner, i would definitely not try to stop the

burglar. do not risk your own health or your family's safety for some stuff. it's just stuff. you can't be replaced. next -- confessions from the chair. the hair dreser's chair. and it ain't always pretty. >> if the hair brush has three different colors of hair on it? >> oh, run. >> and those super expensive hair cuts? >> is it a scam? >> can you price that cut? everyone's retirement dream is different; how we get there is not. we're americans. we work. we plan. ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. to help you retire your way, with confidence. ♪ that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. let's get to work. ameriprise financial. more within reach.

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introducing the new premium mcwrap -- a blend of tender, juicy chicken and fresh veggies in three captivating flavors. more than enough to pull you in. [ bump ] [ chuckles ] a whole new way to love mcdonald's. ♪ but sometimes, i still struggled to get going, even get through the day. so i was honest with my doctor. i told her i'd been feeling stuck for a long time. she said that for some people, an antidepressant alone only helps so much and suggested we add abilify (aripiprazole). she said that by taking both, some people had symptom improvement as early as 1 to 2 weeks. i wish i'd talked to my doctor sooner. [ female announcer ] abilify is not for everyone. call your doctor if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens and young adults. elderly dementia patients taking abilify have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor if you have high fever, stiff muscles and confusion to address a possible life-threatening condition. or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent.

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you may remember the old ad, only your hairdresser knows for sure. well, they sure do, about

everything, from rip-off prices to those stray hairs in the brushes, some of them run over your head. and men, you're in the cross hairs, too. our cecilia vega sat in the chair to weedle out some hair-curling confessions. >> reporter: from sandra bullock's long locks -- to jessica biel's perfectly messy pony -- to that famous anne hathaway cut -- to get their hair red carpet ready, the a-listers turn to this man. adir abergel. >> when you have the talent, you have the talent. >> reporter: adir rarely does regular janes anymore. probably because they can't afford him. >> what you are paying me for is 20 years of experience. this is something i love and i am passionate about. you are paying for my vision. you're paying -- why would season pay millions of dollars for a monet? >> reporter: monet? more like mo-ney. m-o-n-e-y. the price tag for this

masterpiece? a whopping $600. is this a monet? >> hopefully it will be, you know? i'm going to give it as much love as i can. >> reporter: we'll show you later if that love pays off, but do we really have to spend big bucks to look good? no way, says ilona shine, a master colorist at shin salon in santa monica, california, and a 15-year veteran of the industry. tonight, she's lifting the dryer and letting you in on some closely guarded trade secrets. >> i am going to hell. >> reporter: starting with those hair-raising prices. wait, the price is negotiable based on what someone looks like when they walk in? >> yeah, well -- i've seen that happen at other salons. where somebody walks in with a beautiful, you know, expensive bag, expensive shoes and then suddenly, whatever she was quoted at the beginning can end up being $400, just because they

look expensive or rich. >> reporter: and the deceit doesn't end there. ilona confesses there are even more lies -- especially when it's a botched job. what happens when you've chopped off a side that you shouldn't have chopped off? >> they just chop another side to match it and they say, "oh, that's better for your face shape." "you look great!" the. >> reporter: it seems like betrayal. so many women confide everything to their stylists, even treat them like therapists. >> they come in, they sit in my chair, and they tell me everything. >> reporter: nothing is off-limits. sex, infidelity and, yes, even coke habits. but be warned. ilona says, behind your back, your stylist is almost also always spilling your secrets. and judging everything about you. >> she needs to lose weight, that's a big one. >> reporter: it sounds very mean

girl-ish. >> it is. it high school. >> reporter: or perhaps -- a james bond movie. some salons keep more tabs on you than the cia. receptionists may make secret notations about you, like, "poor tipper," "bad attitude" or, the kiss of death, "always late." if you have a client who is constantly late, they [ bleep ] your whole day. >> reporter: you're going to take it out on me? >> some people do. >> reporter: how do they take it out? >> here's the blow drier, here's a brush, blow dry yourself. >> reporter: wait, blow dry your own hair? what happened to the customer being untouchable? >> it's crazy, i know. but that's the reality. >> reporter: but the dirtiest secret of all -- so, um, hair salons and sanitation, are they clean or dirty? >> dirty. one client leaves, another one walks in. that brush gets reused again. >> reporter: the brushes never get cleaned? >> some stylists brushes, if they get cleaned at the end of the week, it will be great. i've seen some horrifying brushes with all kinds of color hair in them.

>> reporter: scissors? >> ah, no. >> reporter: never? it's not only nasty, it's against the law. california issued more than 10,000 citations last year to hair and nail salons and barbershops -- most for sanitary code violations. but we all know it always comes down to the money. women in this country spend $75 billion on hair care each year. ladies, most of us fork over our fair share, something i discussed with my own hair stylist, gabriel mendoza. you think your haircuts are $1,000 worthy? >> of course they are. wouldn't you say that? >> reporter: i'm not going to pay you $1,000 for a hair cut. and fellas, don't get me started on the outrageous gender inequality at play here. oh sure, john edwards may drop 400 bucks for that golden boy trim, and "jersey shore's" pauly d packs on the product to fix

his situation -- >> no way i'm going without my hair gel. >> reporter: but check out these other rich and powerful men who have sported famous fright fros. the donald, russell brand and, of course, illinois ex-governor rod blagojevich. >> you're fired. >> reporter: these games are getting perfectly acceptable cuts at an l.a. barbershop. but for most wouldn't dream of spending more than a cool 20 bucks. >> whenever i told my friends i was paying that much, they always wanted to slap me. >> reporter: wait, a $20 haircut is -- seemed like a lot to your guy friends? >> most of my friends pay $8, $10, for a haircut. >> reporter: that got us thinking about adir and his -- um -- monet. are his customers just paying for the glow of his celebrity cache, or is his $600 cut something that really stands out in a crowd? do you think you can tell the difference, walking down the street, of somebody who paid $20 for a hir cut and somebody who paid $500? >> no. >> reporter: same haircut. >> no, i can't. >> reporter: we had to find out

for ourselves. so, we sent four women to four different stylists in los angeles. each was charged a different amount, from the low $28 to $75, $200, and, well, you already know about adir. >> you look gorgeous. i love it. >> reporter: we took the ladies to hollywood boulevard, right on the walk of fame for a very unscientific experiment. all of these woman have had lovely haircuts and your job is to guess how much each spent on their hair cuts. some spent a lot and some spent a little. people of all sorts tried to match the dollars to the do. missing each time. ustruck out. >> yeah. >> reporter: and what about this purple-haired granny? >> oh, no. i messed that one up. >> reporter: you gave the $28 hair cut the $600 price tag.

>> it looks $600. >> reporter: it looks like $600? maybe the guys would do better. hardly. >> if i get one right, i'll be proud. then brandon showed up. >> i know how girls are with their hair. i have two sisters. trust me. >> reporter: ladies, reveal at the same time. >> oh! >> reporter: you are the first person to get all of these right. let me just say. the hair dance. okay. so, i was going to ask, can you tell the difference between a $28 hair cut and a $600 hair cut? >> kind of embarrassing to say, but yes, i can, apparently. >> reporter: but everyone else in our test couldn't. so, the moral of this tale? it might not matter what you pay, but who you pay. >> so, did you pick out the most expensive cut or the cheapest? we've been asking online at

abcnews.com/2020 and boy did we get an earful. even when the price was right, outrage at charges that much. let us know your thoughts tonight, use #abc2020 on twitter. next, confessions from the cockpit. drinking on the job. denzel did it in fight. but do pilots really do it? >> you're going out with your crew and having a couple of beers or something. it's very easy to push that boundary. >> air scare. >> ai[ malee. er ] it's easy to forget about those two little miracles in your head. even though they supply a steady stream of emotion directly to your brain 24/7. it's time to stop taking your eyes for granted. take them to pearle vision. trust them to our experts, who have been caring for you and your eyes for over 50 years. for a limited time, save 40% on 2 pairs of glasses or prescription sunglasses. pearle vision. caring for eyes since 1961.

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tonight, the faa is investigating that latest case this week of packed planes about to take off, one plane clipping the wing of another. it had us wondering, what's going on in the cockpit at that moment and what's going on at 35,000 feet up in the air. we're at the mercy of the pilots. so, we sent our martha raddatz to find out the plain truth, and the scary thing isn't the things you are afraid of, but what you should be afraid of. >> reporter: this horrific video of a 747 cargo plane crashing in afghanistan three days ago has gone vie value. >> it's a horrible video. it's a terrible thing to watch. >> reporter: former marine corps fighter pilot and trained mishap investigator steve ganyard says even disasters like this are no

reason to develop a fear of flying. >> there are hundreds of 747s that are flying safely every day. and it shouldn't be cause for concern. >> reporter: we talked to three current or retired pilots who gave up the skinny on what pilots really think of the passengers fears. the worries that aren't really problems. and the hidden dangers that don't get much attention. first up? pilots behaving badly. last year, a well-publicized case of a pilot who began ranting mid-flight and had to be restrained by passengers had a lot of people worried about the mental stability of flight crews. and denzel washington's oscar-nominated role as a coke-snorting, alcoholic pilot in the movie "flight" redefined the term "flying high." but current pilot patrick smith author of "cockpit confidential" says that portrayal is a slanderous fib.

>> that's so prer post trous that it's almost -- it's too ridiculous to entertain, really. >> reporter: but we heard something different from former commuter airline pilot chris wiken, who left the industry in 2008. he confessed that he witnessed pilots violating the faa's eight-hour preflight drinking ban. >> you're going out with your crew, having dinner and maybe having a couple of beers or something and sure, it's very easy to push that boundary of that eight hours. >> reporter: there have been scattered indianapolis dents. >> a pilot was arrested after failing a breathalyzer test. >> reporter: but they are rare. on average, 12 per year. the real problem, according to many pilots, is not mentally ill or wasted pilots, but the tired skies. forget the glamour of the aviation's golden age, depicted in "catch me if you can." >> are you a real life pilot? >> i sure am, little lady. >> reporter: many pilots confess

that the humbling reality is low wages, brutal hours and even scrounging for a place to sleep, in so-called crash pads, like this one shot by abc news in 2011, or even worse, spending the night in airline crew lounges. >> you're getting less and less restful sleep. you feel not quite sharp enough to do, sometimes even the simplest tasks. much less fly an airplane safely. >> reporter: pilot fatigue was a contributing factor in the crash of a colgan air jet in buffalo in 2010. while safety officials have issued new rules to combat the problem, the constant grind of a hectic flying schedule remains a big concern. >> the reality of being a pilot today is more or less just a bus driver in the sky, just a glorified bus driver. >> reporter: another pilot confession? involves the hazards of electronic devices in the air. should you really be scared for your life if alec baldwin is

secretly playing words with friends across the aisle. do you turn your blackberry off? >> i'm really bad. when i get caught by the stewardesses continuing to text prior to take-off. >> reporter: colonel steve began yard thinks it's probably not true that your cell phone will interfere with the pilot's ability to fly the plane. >> this is one of these things that i think the faa will be looking at. the wings are not going to come off if your cell phone is on. >> reporter: on the other hand, began yard is troubled about overreliance on the electronics the pilots are using. >> it will fly all the way to the destination, land, stop the airplane and the next thing you need to do is taxi into the gate. >> reporter: that dependence on automation contributed to a major disaster over the atlantic ocean on a dark and stormy night in 2009. the ill-fated flight of air france 447. 3 1/2 hours after takeoff, the plane's automatic pilot system suddenly shut down. as demonstrated to our elizabeth

vargas in this flight simulator. >> there's a warning. the aircraft is now in my control. i have to fly it manually. >> reporter: it should have been a routine situation. but when the pilot took over the controls, he mistakenly put the plane into a fatal stall, sending it into the ocean. all 228 souls aboard were lost. >> the machine failed them. any pilot who was trained 20, 25 years ago would have been able to get out of that, because they would have known what they were siege and theeing and they known what to do. >> reporter: hollywood films like "castaway," which predicted tom hanks' plane in a storm, makes the public terrified of flying in bad weather. but began yard says chill.

>> people who have been killed by turbulence have bounced off the creeling. >> reporter: what about lightning? >> it's okay. the lightning hits the airplane and it's grounded, it goes off back into the air. >> reporter: a far greater danger, say our pie loments is what's happening on the ground. those planes that clipped each other this week at newark airport? >> we have some serious tail damage. his tail is totaled. >> reporter: is a growing concern. a couple of years ago at jfk, a regional jet was spun around like a top. and in this shocking video, a russian plane overshooting the runway and crashes into a highway. four people lost their lives. safety officials are pushing to get airports to adopt this special braking system, a bed of concrete-like blocks at the end of a runway. >> it's like driving through deep, sticky snow. >> reporter: it stopped this jet in charles on the, west virginia, from going off the runway and over the side of a mountain.

>> nobody wants that airplane to land safely more than the pilot. >> reporter: so, sit back, relax and enjoy your flight. >> these are folks who are very, very professional. they feel a real sense of extraordinary responsibility for the airplane and for the passengers that fly on them. next -- window washers. confessing what they see while they're just hanging around. like you at the office -- >> completely sleeping, glasses all crook and everything. >> reporter: or you, off the clock. >> pretty much naked. >> she decided to give the window cleaners a show. >> washing and watching. when we come back. ...as we come together to celebrate the commitment... excuse me. would you mind moving your enormous phone? you mean the enormously awesome galaxy? ping! search "one trick pony." [ all gasp ] aren't you a little young to have an iphone? [ all gasp ] whee! [ indistinct shouting ] you think if they knew about the nokia lumia they'd stop fighting all the time? i don't know. i think they kind of like fighting.

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well, how is this for a job description? no fear of heights and a cast iron stomach that can handle seeing anything. that's what it takes to be a window washer. and matt gutman, out on a ledge tonight, right there with them, and the confessions he heard -- >> reporter: this is where jessie demamario and eddie osorio punch in for the day.

pay isn't bad. but the perks? fresh air, an office as big as the sky and a chance for the unexpected. dress code, very office casual and a safety harness that fits a little snug. >> you don't want it to be so tight that it's cutting off the circulation. you have to feel your extremities, you know? >> one man fell from more than 30 stories up. >> reporter: the dangers of window washing have made news. over the past ten years, 39 people have died servicing out city's windows. >> it's rock solid. >> reporter: so, it's not surprising clearview window cleaning's crew gave me a mandatory safety briefing. >> this is your working line. this is your emergency line. >> reporter: okay. i feel like i'm ready to climb. it's only then that they let me step off into their office.

notice this hand still has a white knuckle grip. now, i've rappelled before, but never with a pair of bucket-toting, tattooed elite squeegee armed guys, 400 feet in the air. looking out is beautiful. >> you see sharks in the water. we're on the top of the building, going, shark! shark! they can't hear us. >> reporter: but they confess looking in, at you, is even better. >> we've been on the side of a building and this lady was on her balcony, pretty much naked. decided to give all the cleaners a show. it was like she totally was enjoying it. that's what she -- that's what makes her phappy, i guess. i don't know. >> made our day. made our week. >> reporter: sometimes, for fun, they'll bust office workers slacking off. >> we catch them sleeping, completely passed out, sleeping, glasses all crooked and everything. >> reporter: do you ever give it

a knock? >> one of these. >> put that suction cup on the window, she woke up, started typing. >> reporter: but they're not above a little tom foolery themselves. >> we get bored, we play mortal combat, i'll stretch out all the way to that other glass. i'll come at you with a flying kick. are. >> reporter: are e serious? new york city boasts an estimated 50 million windows. and pat shields has cleaned thousands of them. for the rich and tape mouse. >> bank presidentses oscar winners, tony winners, hedge fund managers, top artists. we've done everyone. >> reporter: all all that time, it's not the heights that scare him anymore. >> the biggest risks are really getting something dirty in someone's apartment, you know, splashing on the picasso, splashing on the $50,000 sofa. >> reporter: not to one up the window washers of miami, but -- >> i think every window cleaner

in new york has a brothel story. i started cleaning the windows. there were mattresses on the floor. there were bras and boxes of condoms and things. these young, very beautiful young ladies, jokingly said to the lady, is this a modeling agency? and she looked right at me without hesitating and said, it's a dorm. i knew for certain what kind of business it was and then two weeks later, she was busted for being a madam. >> reporter: sometimes pat admits he can't help but hear what's going on behind closed windows. >> i just heard, crack! and then children wailing and because the child was wailing, she smacked the child again. i called the customer, i said, look, your nanny has just struck your child. next time i was there, the nanny was gone. >> reporter: like eddie and jesse, pat takes all the necessary safety precautions. buckling in at every window. but there are washers, like this guy, at work, 100 feet in the

air, without a harness. a nervous neighbor posted the video on youtube. the universal fear among most skyscraper squeegee men is a fear of falling. but for patrick, it's also a fear of frying. >> i felt the electricity running up my arm. i felt backwards. couple seconds later, woke up. >> reporter: a loose wire almost did him in above a deli. >> all i could think was, after all the crazy stuff we've done, that i was going to end up having to get retrieved from a deli awning when i finally bit the big one. >> reporter: the big one, famously came for miguel and edgar in 2008 when they were working 47 stories up and the cables anchoring their scaffolding snapped. 30-year-old edgar hit the ground at 125 miles per hour and died instantly. but only a few feet away, paramedics were astonished to find 37-year-old miguel alive. >> if you are a believer in

miracles, this is one. >> reporter: miguel rode the scaffolding like a surf board. he woke up from a coma on christmas day and reached for his wife, rosie. >> i don't know what to tell you. i'm still in shock. >> reporter: almost just as miraculous, four months after the accident, miguel walked out on his own two feet. he has no plans to climb tall buildings anymore. but eddie and jesse are still jazzed by the heights. >> adrenaline rush. >> reporter: and dazzled by the occasional sights. and admits the monotony of the perfectly executed squeegee wipe, there is always the hope of finding something special up there in the air. you ever wonder if you are going to meet the love of your life through one of these windows? >> that's what i hope for some day. >> reporter: for real? do you have a line? >> not really, just, i'll make sure your glass is clean. all day long. next -- con fexs from the e.r. what you don't want to know

about what happens when you go under. >> you can have a dui and walk right into the operating room the next morning. >> and what's really behind those long e.r. waits? doctors scrubbing in and dishing the dirt, next. [ male announcer ] the miraculous is everywhere. in our homes, our minds. we can share every second in data dressed as pixels. and it is spectacular. so why would you cap that? my iphone 5 can see every point of view... every panorama, the entire gallery of humanity. i need to upload all of me. i need, no, i have the right to be unlimited. make the most of your iphone 5 with truly unlimited data and 4g lte. switch your number to any iphone on sprint and we will give you $100 off. switch your number to any iphone on sprint now mega lash volume goes mega plush! bye, bye brittle! volum' express mega plush from maybelline new york. our first gel-mousse mascara! for mega lush lashes, soft to the touch. mega plush mascara

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going to the doctor. think about it.

you could be in surgery, laid out cold on a table and they're over you doing what? well, you're about to find out everything about how some of them rake in the extra dough, to why you really have to wait so long in the emergency room. >> people seek me out to tell me their nightmare stories of medical mistakes. >> reporter: dr. marty makary has a confession. if you were one of his patients back when he was a sleep-deprived icu intern, you were not in good hands. >> i mean, i was mismanaging patients, i'm sure. i changed the settings on a ventilator to make it even more difficult for someone to breathe. >> reporter: the really scary part? makary is one of the good doctors -- a leading surgeon at johns hopkins hospital in baltimore. tonight, he's breaking the code of silence that keeps so much of every hospital's dirty laundry hidden from its patients. >> we can't be honest about the mistakes that are happening, which is why many people are

surprised that medical mistakes are the number five cause of death in the united states. >> reporter: it's equivalent to the number, like, of people who'd be killed in four jumbo jets crashing every week? >> it is a massive problem. >> reporter: as makary recounts in his new book "unaccountable," error-prone doctors can blunder on for decades, receiving no condemnation other than a derisive nickname from their peers, dr. hodad. >> i realized every hospital has a doctor that is locally referred to hodad. >> reporter: that stands for? >> hands of death and destruction. >> reporter: that sounds scary? there's the florida surgeon who mistakenly amputated the wrong leg. the doctors at this rhode island hospital who operated on the wrong side of a patient's head three times. even funmyny man dana carvey has spoken about a botched heart surgery by a doctor he claims could have killed him.

>> so then they did another angiogram and they noticed the bi-passed the wrong artery. >> reporter: your reaction was? >> come again, excuse me! you know, i couldn't believe it. >> reporter: even more astounding is a new study published in the journal of the american medical association, suggests that hospitals nearly triple their profits when they make surgical mistakes, because insurance plans will pay more for longer stays and extra care. >> as a nurse, we do see mistakes that doctors make all the time. and i think, that's an uncomfortable idea for the public. >> reporter: theresa brown has seen it all as a nurse. doctors botching prescriptions, ordering procedures for the wrong patients, even disregarding the basics of hospital hygiene. >> there are doctors who don't wash their hands and that's a real risk to the patient. >> reporter: but the medical field is so insular and self-protective, says makary, that even doctors with serious substance abuse problems can skate by. >> try that again. >> health care is a funny field. you can have a dui and walk

right into the operating room the next morning. the faa would never allow that, because there are national guidelines for pilots. arguing that it's part of public safety. >> reporter: it's not public safety to have a surgeon operating on you who was wasted the night before? >> these are problems that happen when you have people who are in over their head and the oversight is very poor. >> reporter: take the case not long ago of dr. kristin howard, recently named doctor of the year at newton wellesley hospital in massachusetts. authorities say lit up on alcohol and pills howard prescribed to herself -- she was caught on tape in november tearing out of a supermarket parking lot. howard has pleaded not guilty to dui and drug charges. >> if the rate of substance abuse in america is around 7% to 10%, why do we think it's lower for doctors? >> reporter: in fact, nurse brown says the most honest portrayal of real life health care is -- of all things -- "nurse jackie," about a

pill-popping e.r. nurse. and it's not like it's easy for patients to find out for themselves how good or bad their doctor may be. nurse brown says outright deceit is rampant. >> often the doctor is promising the family that we'll do x, and that will make all the difference and they'll get better. and we actually know that that's very unlikely to be true. >> reporter: here's something else no one will tell you. the real reason you have to wait so long in that emergency room. >> hospitals really are not looking to attract people into their emergency rooms. so, when you wonder why the wait in an emergency room is six or ten hours, it's not accidental. it's kind of by design. because that is a population that just does not allow a hospital to be profitable. >> reporter: ah yes, the profit motive. makary says it creates all kinds

of conflicts of interest, leading doctors to prescribe more expensive drugs and even perform unnecessary procedures. >> if you do an operation you will go home with $1,000 or $2,000 more than if you didn't do the operation. >> reporter: so the incentive is to operate? >> the incentives are huge. 20% to 30% of all procedures, tests, medications in health care are unnecessary. >> reporter: makary says he'll keep confessing the sins of his profession until everyone in medicine is held accountable for the mistakes they make. >> reporter: how has writing this book made life for you in the hospital corridors? >> well, there's a new movement to say, we've got to be open and honest about our serious problems and deficiencies in health care. and they have very little tolerance for b.s. when they see something that doesn't look right, they call people out.

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get 5% cash back at restaurants a handsome man will deliver good news. when you use your chase freedom card this quarter. what? activate your 5% cash back at chase.com/freedom and that is our program for tonight. but we have two hours of "20/20" tomorrow night, so many talking about the diane sawyer interview with amanda knox. so, beginning at 9:00 tomorrow, another look right here. i'm david muir. >> and i'm elizabeth vargas. for all of us at "20/20" and abc news, have a great night and a great weekend. fighting the flames, intense

effort to protect people and property in the south bay. a live report from the fire line. >> can you say superbowl? what happened today that may ensure